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A Los Angeles jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $966 million to the household of a girl who died from mesothelioma, discovering the firm liable within the newest trial alleging its talc merchandise trigger most cancers.
The household of Mae Moore, a California resident who died at age 88 in 2021, sued the firm the identical 12 months, claiming J&J’s talc child powder merchandise contained asbestos fibers that brought on her uncommon most cancers.
The jury late on Monday ordered J&J to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, in line with courtroom filings.
The decision may very well be lowered on attraction because the US Supreme Court docket has discovered that punitive damages ought to usually be not more than 9 occasions compensatory damages.
Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vp of litigation, stated in a press release that the firm plans to instantly attraction, calling the decision “egregious and unconstitutional.”
“The plaintiff legal professionals on this Moore case primarily based their arguments on ‘junk science’ that by no means ought to have been introduced to the jury,” Haas stated.
The firm has stated its merchandise are secure, don’t comprise asbestos, and don’t trigger most cancers. J&J stopped promoting talc-based child powder within the US in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. Mesothelioma has been linked to asbestos publicity.
Trey Branham, one of many attorneys representing Moore’s household, stated after the decision that his crew is “hopeful that Johnson & Johnson will lastly settle for duty for these mindless deaths.”
J&J is dealing with lawsuits from greater than 67,000 plaintiffs who say they had been recognized with most cancers after utilizing child powder and different talc merchandise, in line with courtroom filings.
The variety of lawsuits alleging talc brought on mesothelioma is a small subset of those circumstances, with the overwhelming majority involving ovarian most cancers claims.
J&J has sought to resolve the litigation by means of chapter, a proposal that has been rejected 3 times by federal courts.
Lawsuits alleging talc brought on mesothelioma weren’t a part of the final chapter proposal.
The firm has beforehand settled a few of these claims however has not struck a nationwide settlement, so many lawsuits over mesothelioma have proceeded to trial in state courts in current months.
Prior to now 12 months, J&J has been hit with a number of substantial verdicts in mesothelioma circumstances, however Monday’s is among the many largest.
The firm has gained a number of the mesothelioma trials, together with final week in South Carolina, the place a jury discovered J&J not liable.
The firm has been profitable in lowering a number of the awards on attraction, together with in a single Oregon case the place a state decide granted J&J’s movement to throw out a $260 million verdict and maintain a brand new trial.
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